April 4 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. senators voted to revive more
than 50 lapsed tax breaks, working across party lines to back a
measure that benefits wind energy, multinational corporations
and motor sports tracks.

Even as they lamented their inability to set permanent tax
policy, the Senate Finance Committee yesterday agreed to extend
through 2015 the more than $86 billion in tax breaks.

Among the package’s beneficiaries are General Electric Co.,
which would be able to continue deferring taxes on profits from
its overseas financing operations, and AT&T Inc., which issued a
statement saying the vote to extend bonus depreciation gives the
company “confidence” to begin deploying fiber to more U.S.
cities.

“There’s an advocate for almost every one of those
provisions,” said Senator Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican.
“Ultimately, you just see the politics of a particular interest
having sufficient advocacy to be able to get their provisions
included.”

U.S. lawmakers are focusing on the short-term extensions as
prospects for a major revision of the U.S. tax code dim.
Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon, the new chairman of the Senate
Finance Committee, created the package that was approved
yesterday -- and said he won’t do it again.

‘Last’ Time

“This will be the last tax extenders bill the committee
takes up as long as I am the chairman,” said Wyden, who took
over the panel earlier this year after Max Baucus, a Montana
Democrat, gave up his Senate seat to become U.S. ambassador to
China.

Most of the tax breaks expired after Dec. 31, 2013, though
some lapse at the end of this year.

Democratic leaders haven’t scheduled the measure for
consideration by the full Senate. In the Republican-led House of
Representatives, lawmakers are focused on making some provisions
permanent and repealing others.

Senators said they regretted the need to routinely extend
tax breaks, because of the uncertainty it creates for businesses
and individuals. The research and development credit, which
benefits companies such as Intel Corp., has been expiring
periodically since it became law in 1981.

Other breaks extended as part of the proposal include the
exclusion of mortgage debt canceled in a short sale, faster
writeoffs for some restaurant construction and incentives for
building energy-efficient homes.

‘Tremendous Challenge’

“Everybody that you talk to in any business environment --
and I mean across the entire economy, not only in my state but
the country -- is fit to be tied about the lack of certainty and
predictability,” said Senator Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican.
“You should be going to comprehensive tax reform, but that’s a
tremendous challenge.”

Lawmakers have been unable to find a way out of the pattern
of lapses and temporary revivals. They typically reach
compromise by agreeing to extend almost all the breaks that
expired, even some they don’t favor. That’s what happened
yesterday in the committee’s voice vote.

“The challenge on taxes is to always find the common
ground where you can move ahead,” Wyden told reporters after
the vote. “What you saw today was the product of a bipartisan
negotiation.”

Continuing the tax breaks permanently would require
accounting for 10 years of forgone revenue. It also would end
the lobbying and fundraising cycle that accompanies the lapsed
provisions.

Lawmakers support provisions that are particularly
important in their home states and trade support for other
members’ favored breaks.

Mass-Transit Benefit

These include a mass-transit commuting benefit that aids
New York and New Jersey residents and the ability to deduct
state sales taxes. The deduction provision is important in
states such as Washington and Florida that lack income taxes.

Those forces overcome the interest groups arguing against
parts of the package.

Among them are the U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s
opposition to breaks for multinational corporations, the
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’s call for a bill
that wouldn’t increase budget deficits and the small-government
Heritage Foundation’s support for abolishing renewable-energy
breaks.

Wyden offered a proposal yesterday with some breaks he had
left out earlier, including the production credit for wind that
benefits companies such as Vestas Wind Systems A/S and a break
for film and television production.

Stage Productions

The TV production provision, which allows companies to
immediately write off expenses, is being expanded to include
stage productions. It is backed by Senator Charles Schumer of
New York, home to Broadway’s live theaters.

One item that wasn’t included in either version is a tax
credit for making energy-efficient appliances, a break that
benefited GE and Whirlpool Corp.

Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, the home
state of Whirlpool, said industry officials supported the
expiration of the break and prefer to address the issue as part
of broader tax-code changes.

Wyden and the committee also expanded a tax credit for
hiring workers from disadvantaged groups to provide an incentive
for hiring long-term unemployed workers.

Committee members adopted several amendments. One expands
the research credit to make it more accessible for startup
businesses that don’t earn profits, by letting them count the
credit against payroll taxes.

The panel voted to allow people who use bike-sharing
services to qualify for the $20-a-month exclusion from income to
cover their costs, a break that’s currently available only for
bike owners.

Democrats who control the committee also voted to prevent
Republicans from considering an amendment to delay the excise
tax on medical devices for two years. Wyden, who said he shares
Republicans’ concerns about the tax, said it was outside the
measure’s scope.

Companies such as Medtronic Inc. oppose the device tax,
passed as part of the 2010 health-care law.